Every Day Is A Sale Day

Want Your Long-Gun Profits To Jump? Listen To Carl Ingrao.

Long guns, especially traditional rifles, continue their historical, perennial steady-seller status in 2012, ranking closely behind handguns in popularity. However, long guns rank as the top choice by recreational and target shooters, who prefer to take traditional rifles to the range slightly more than they do handguns.

Hunters, despite being outpaced by target and recreational shooters, are still an important segment of the market, with strong indications that hunting is increasing, boosting firearm and related sales. The modern sporting rifle, while not the blazing-hot seller it was in 2009, is still in high demand. The shotgun market has gained welcome traction, as consumers — recreational shooters and hunters — look beyond the personal defense aspects of shotguns.

Dealers who are dialed into their area’s niches in long-gun shooting preferences are posting the most profits. Some areas are competition- and shooting range-heavy, while others are traditionally strong bastions of hunting. According to NSSF’s 2011 Firearms Retailer Survey, as many as a third of firearm purchases from first-time buyers were long guns, with the vast majority of those bought from a local dealer.

One seasoned dealer who has honed his long-gun sales to a fine edge — and he has high local consumer demand for modern sporting rifles — is Carl Ingrao, who has owned Four Seasons Firearms in Woburn, Mass., for 16 years.

“My business keeps focusing more and more over time to what peoplekeep asking for. Probably 90 to 95 percent of the guns I sell go for recreational or target or competition shooting. In our area, there are a lot of organized or NRA-sanctioned meets — 3-gun, long-range shooting, etc.,” Ingrao said.
By Greg Stauton